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1 Peter Coloring Pages
In the spring of 2020 our church used the book of 1 Peter as a way of navigating the onset of the pandemic being in some way exiled from the way life was "meant to be", or at least what we were used to. The book is a challenge and a comfort to a people surrounded by misunderstanding and targeted campaigns against them particularly. The following coloring pages take in the culture and visuals of the Greco-Roman world particularly in the Anatolian area of modern day Turkey.
Philemon 17-25 - Κοινονεια
In this final installment for the book of Philemon, it all comes full circle to the concept of Κοινωνεια, often translated here as sharing. It’s the commonness found in the gospel that transcends all cultural barriers and marks. The partnership that Paul speaks of is what brought three unlikely friends together in unity and brotherhood. Depicted here is the beautiful Lycus Valley, in which one would have found Colossae, in a colonnade that can be found in that region (actually in Laodeceia, but since there's nothing left of Colossae, one must use one's imagination a tad)
Philemon 8-16 - Philemon
The second coloring page in the three-part series on the book of Philemon focuses on the man himself, Philemon. Paul was imploring him to treat Onesimus much differently than the culture of that time would have demanded. In fact, what Paul was asking Philemon to do went very much against the cultural norms of the day by not just taking the young man back, but taking him as a brother not a slave. That would have definitely raised eyebrows in Colossae. Here, Philemon is found pondering the issue standing outside his home in the Lycus Valley. Background, house style, and clothing are taken from some Phrygian styles and topography
Philemon 1-7 - Onesimus
As Aletheia Church moves into the book of Philemon in a trilogy of studies about how partnership in the gospel transforms even some of our cultural norms and expectations. Each of the three pages will focus on each of the three major characters: Onesimus, Philemon, and Paul. This one looks at the story arc of Onesimus from his running away, to meeting the Apostle Paul and transformation to his difficult but necessary return to home in Colossae
1 Peter 5:6-11 - Roaring Lion
This is a rather well known image used in Peter's letter to the Anatolian Christians in the 1st century, the devil portrayed as a roaring lion on the prowl. I thought to pair this with the Armor of God sequence used in Paul's letter to the Ephesians (same part of the world as Peter's letter). A note about the visual choices here - the lion should look like some kind of monster lion rather than a typical lion. The armor itself is taken from museum exhibits of kinds of pieces representative of that area as well. For example, the helmet is Phrygian, the shield Thrakian, etc... If you want to see more on that particular study, you can find more information by clicking on the link below.
1 Peter 5:1-5 - Shepherd
A wise man once said that pastors are called to be shepherds, not cowboys. It's no mistake that imagery is used throughout the various descriptions of the role in the New Testament, a call to both strength and great tenderness. Too often, the latter character trait is taken in our culture for weakness. This is why we are called to gospel saturated, Christ-centered living, emulating His character, His strength, His great compassion and tenderness.
1 Peter 4:12-19 - Fiery Test
The likening of our suffering To Jesus suffering isn’t meant to drive us toward melodrama but to give us a pattern and way through the suffering that does exist, particularly for those who choose to live in joy or sorrow by His way.
1 Peter 4:7-11 - Serving One Another.jpg
One definition of the Christian faith, that transcends culture, ethnicity, politic and time is that we are a people who serve. Whether in word or deed, those who follow Jesus strive to live the life He modeled by serving others through action and through attitude. These days many Christians seem to be losing that crucial part of the walk, that it is particularly those who you disagree with, or who find your choices repulsive, that you go out of your way to show kindness, graciousness and hospitality toward.
1 Peter 4:1-6 - Declined Lawlessness
The text describes the 1st Century Christian response to much of the crazy wild and unrestrained practices of the broader Greco-Roman culture at the time. Their refusal to participate in that unrestraint either led to confusion at best or hostility at worst. Here is our Pontic character taking a hard pass on some of the craziness on his way home from the market.
1 Peter 3:13-22 - Answering in Hope
Here our Bithynian friend has gotten himself locked up because he wouldn’t participate in the worship of the emperor as was quite common in that area during that time period. Since ancient Turkey (Asia as it is sometimes called in the 1st century) was nowhere near Rome, many of the towns would fight and scrap to be the biggest and brightest beacon for the emperor. This made it particularly dangerous for those who followed this Jesus guy at that time, and yet their cheerful acceptance of hardship and actual targeted abuse as well as their reputation for being excellent neighbors!
1 Peter 3:8-12 - Repay Evil with Good
This is a key theme of Peters first letter, suffering mistreatment well, and relying bad with good. Petty revenge is not on the table. This is illustrated here with the Galatian character, who has been performing at the theater with his friend on the Kithara, when he suffers the humiliation and embarrassment of a particularly nasty heckler. Later, when that same hecklers cart breaks, he’s the one who is there to help him out and show undeserved love. Repay evil with good.
1 Peter 3,1-7 - Serving Family.jpg
I wanted to depict this often referenced text as it depicts itself - a family rooted in the gospel serving one another as co-heirs in Christ. Here depicted via a Cappadocian family having a little picnic. Here they eat some admittedly modern dishes from that region, like testi kebab and gozleme!
1 Peter 2:18-25 - Suffering
The theme of this text, suffering well under oppression or unfair treatment, was tricky to illustrate. So I used the Pontic character and set the story in a Greek marble quarry. Here, a task master, in Thracian armor, mistreats the guy who is trying to bring food for the slaves in the quarry. Sometimes you seem to be punished for just trying to do what’s right. This is for you, always do right. If you follow Jesus, you walk in his steps, you too walk a path that can mean suffering for doing right.
1 Peter 2:13-17 - Emperor
We may complain about the people who are in public office, but nobody would contend with the fact that Nero was the worst human to ever live under. So it's no mistake that Peter wrote these words to Asian (1st Century Turkish) Christians arguably at this particular point in history. This used actual images of the emperor (Nero) and governor (Gnaeus Corbus) to approximate the actual scenario people in the part of the world might have encountered back then
1 Peter 2:4-12 - Chosen Family
The story of Jesus is a story of a global restoration of all things to himself. Here, illustrating this well known text, I wanted to pull out some lesser known Christian communities around the world and through time. So we have the Galatians, who were likely Gaulish/Celtic, the Moravian community of Lenape at Gnadenhutten during the 18th century, The Oxyrhynchus community in Egypt from whose records we came to know more about the language of the New Testament, the Ethiopian Christians whose history goes all the way back to the NT itself, Persian Christians, and the St Thomas community in India who trace their heritage back to the apostle himself.
Acts 2:1-13 - Holy Spirit
I wanted to depict the scene in Acts 2 where the typical visual of the tongues of fire are there, but also the really incredible part where these fishermen are speaking but everyone hears them in their own language. The people representing each ethnicity are illustrated left to right along with the text below them. Each were researched and chosen for stylistic as well as authenticity reasons. This one was fun to do, but took a lot of research. And no, that's not a smurf hat in the middle, it's a Parthian/Phrygian cap!
1 Peter 2:1-8 - Cornerstone
A beautiful, more abstract text to illustrate, but wanted to use a distinctly Grecian/Anatolian style temple, but with distinctly Christian/Jewish symbology
1 Peter 1:13-25 - Incorruptible
This pericope is a beautiful one, illustrated this coloring page using the character from Cappadocia, bringing in some of the backdrop and clothing/style of that area of Turkey
1 Peter 1:10-12 - Prophet Gospel.jpg
The prophets searched about the Messiah, announcing the gospel
1 Peter 1:3-9 - Inheritance
Here is depicted a Pontic Christian being carried away by guards to jail, his home confiscated and ruined, but his hope being a home with Jesus. For Christians under the reign of emperors like Nero or Domitian, this was a reality they had to deal with, for which Peter offered future hope
1 Peter 1: Exiles
1 Peter 1:1-2: The letter opens to a group of ancient Anatolian Christians
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